One Great Shoe

by Zach Schonbrun

The last American company to truly compete with Nike in the billion-dollar basketball sneaker market was And1, a rags-to-riches enterprise founded by three friends in Philadelphia who used grassroots marketing and an audacious approach to connect with young consumers. That was nearly 20 years ago. Can And1 possibly catch lightning in a bottle again? Zach Schonbrun inspects the rise, fall, and current relaunch of one of the most fascinating American brands of the 1990s, led by Cape Capener, an eccentric executive enchanted by the pursuit of simply developing "one great shoe." With it, Schonbrun peels back the curtain on "sneakerhead" culture, this country's haywire enthrallment with basketball shoes, and how a company like And1 can hope to compete again in a $4.5 billion industry.


Zach Schonbrun is a freelancer writer based in New York who contributes regularly to the sports section of the New York Times. His work has also appeared in ESPN the Magazine, Newsday, the Washington Post and Yahoo! Sports.


Cover design by Adil Dara.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

37 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 29, 2015

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

more a glorified business-mag article than a book, but that is what digital singles are. i read this hoping to get more of a feel for the janky but endearing And1 cultural moment. didn't get a lot of that -- basically some b-school dudes from Philly decided to start a shoe company based on little more than the early 90s street-ball vibe that started with probably White Men Can't Jump. the shoes were never the point, there was no real logic or art behind the faceless silver logo dude. It just kind of tapped into the zeitgeist--specifically the aspirational teenage suburbanite boy zeitgeist perfectly. By all accounts the shoes sucked. The shoes were not the point.

this was a decent read, workmanlike, not overly remarkable, but did deliver insight on the weird shadow business world of brands and brand equity. at no point does anyone at And1 or the many companies that have bought and sold the And1 brand really care all that much about shoes. It's a completely different thing they're doing.

[Ta0paipai · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topic intrigued me and the book delivered. But the history of And1 deserves better. We read about And1 reaching the top, but are never told how it got there. They signed big names, as a small company, how did that happen? They outfitted most of the NCAA, how did an upstart manage that? "One Great Shoe" is no more than a magazine article without an editor; I'd have given it 4 to 5 stars had it been a smoother, more fun read.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trip down memory lane...

Very quick read that had me thinking of 25 years ago when I was a big fan of And1 and AboveTheRim. I wish there was an update to say what has transpired since the end of the story as I think the ending wasn't a happy one...

[Toni Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening Read About Basketball Shoes

This was a short read about the "street" brand And1 and it's competition with the big brands -Nike, Adidas etc.

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

No

Would not recommend. Learned nothing. Am I at 20 words yet? No no no no no no save your time.

[Onur Kirazci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special

I was expecting the book to be similar to a “Shoe dog”, but it is not that exciting story at all. Anyway, It was not that bad either. I managed to read it all.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read about the men's sneaker industry, which is basically dominated by Nike. If you grew up in the 90's like me, you'll remember those trash talking t-shirts from And1, No Fear, and Big Dogs. This book (article) covers the history of And1, sneakerheads, and the marketing genius that is Nike. Can the little guy, And1, make a comeback? Outlook not good, but it sure would make a great story.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept thinking of a scene from the Gilmore Girls revival where a magazine editor says something like "David Foster Wallace would have nailed this." I couldn't help but think there was a really intriguing story underneath here and it wasn't told poorly but I would have wanted to read DFW's take.

[Danny Knobler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not nearly as interested in shoes as my friend Zach, but he had more than enough insight and tidbits to keep my attention through the quick read of a Kindle Single.

[Jared Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting history to glean from.